SEB Group generated a €134.1 million profit in Latvia in the first nine months of 2023, SEB Group told LETA, a Latvian newswire. 

According to LETA's estimates, the banking group's Latvian profit has doubled against the same period a year ago. 

The bank's representatives informed that in the first nine months of this year, SEB put aside €2.2 million worth of provisions for unsafe loans. 

SEB Group's revenue in Latvia was €181.4 million and costs totalled €43.7 million in January-September 2023. The group's nine-month profit before provisions was €137.8 million. 

SEB Group's assets stood at €5.5 billion at the end of September. 

Deposits at Latvia's SEB Banka were worth €4.4 billion and the bank's loan portfolio amounted to €3.3 billion as at September 30. 

According to the bank, it paid out almost €16 million in interest to depositors in the first nine months of this year, compared to €500,000 in the same period last year.

SEB Banka CEO Ieva Tetere indicated that since the beginning of this year, corporate deposits at SEB Banka have grown 2.6 times to more than €300 million at the end of September. Meanwhile, personal deposits grew by 45% to €640 million. 

The bank's representatives noted that private individuals have chosen to deposit 27% of their money in fixed-term deposits and savings accounts.

This year, SEB Banka has granted €677 million in loans to more than 3,200 business projects. Loans in the segment of large corporate clients have been extended to telecommunications, energy, manufacturing, transport and real estate companies, primarily for new fixed assets, co-financing of acquisitions and working capital. In the segment of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the strongest demand has been from municipal companies borrowing for long-term investments and working capital. The long-term projects are related to the renovation of ageing infrastructure and the transition to greener energy.

According to the bank's representatives, SEB Banka's mortgage loan portfolio has grown by 3% this year, mainly due to the activity of private individuals. In the first nine months of this year, the bank granted loans for the purchase of almost 1,500 homes.

As reported, SEB Group generated a €65.5 million profit in Latvia in the first nine months of 2022, while the bank's profit was €73.2 million. In the full 2022, SEB Group' audited profit in Latvia was €94.4 million. 

At the end of 2022, SEB was the second largest bank in Latvia by assets, according to the Bank of Latvia, LETA said.